One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Literary Analysis - 972 Words

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by American author Ken Kesey, and set inside a psychiatric hospital. The story is narrated by ‘Chief’ Bromden, and unravels the events leading to McMurphy’s rebellion against Nurse Ratched in order to achieve his long-term goal of ‘freeing’ the inmates. Throughout the novel, Kesey introduces a number of ideas to the reader such as the oppressive nature of authority and society’s inability to accept difference. By using literary devices such as characterization and symbolism, it allows the author to explore these ideas, and at the same time reflect the unreasonable nature of society. Kesey’s characterization of Nurse Ratched as a figure of domination allows him to explore the oppressive†¦show more content†¦By characterizing Nurse Ratched as a figure of power, Kesey successfully explores the oppressive and domineering force of authority. Kesey effectively uses characterization in his presentation of Dale Harding to explore the damage received by individuals when they are socially unaccepted. Harding, being a college-educated patient as well as the President of the Patient’s Council, can be depicted as an incredibly intelligent man. However, Bromden describes him to be a â€Å"flat, nervous man† with â€Å"wide, thin shoulders† that he â€Å"curves around his chest when he is trying to hide himself† (pg. 20), implying that although he is a well-educated man, his self-esteem seems to be absent. Bromden also describes Harding to have â€Å"hands so long and white they carved each other out of soap† (pg. 20), again suggesting that he is a fragile character. It is revealed later on in the novel that Harding is a homosexual, yet he represses himself from obtaining his sexual desires. At the same time, he suffers from the humiliation of never being able to please his wife – Nurse Ra tched constantly reminds him that â€Å"his wife’s ample bosom at times gives him a feeling of inferiority† (pg. 44), which explains his low self-esteem and brittle characteristics. Furthermore, because of his alien sexuality, he is regarded as an ‘insane’ person by society, even though he is well educated and does not appear to possess any physical or mental disabilities. By using characterization to portray Harding’s lack ofShow MoreRelatedOne Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Literary Analysis1003 Words   |  5 PagesFreedom can be obtained through the defiance of society’s expectations to find a sense of individuality. Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is a novel originally published in 1962, which centres on the lives of patients in a psychiatric hospital. Symbolism, one of the many techniques, was incorporated into the novel, to convey the main ideas of freedom, and society versus individual. Motifs and symbols are vaguely different, in a sense that motifs are symbols unique to the novel, whereasRead MoreThe One Who Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Literary Analysis1046 Words   |  5 Pagesof literature have comparable characteristics, including the use of literary elements to portray deeper meaning. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are great pieces of literature which keep their main focus around the use of symbolism, hidden in the plot. 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She runs all business and daily life in the asylumRead MoreOne Flew over the Cuckoos Nest: the Power of Laughter1592 Words   |  7 Pagesgreater authority has the power to deny a person of their laughter; which, inevitably, denies him of his freedom. Ken Kesey conveys the idea that laughter and freedom go hand in hand throughout his novel One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. Kesey portrays laughter as a parallel to freedom through various literary symbols and imagery in order to illustrate how the power of laughter can free a man who is under the control of an unjust authority. Through the characterization of Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, KeseyRead MoreLiterary Analysis over One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest Essay1401 Words   |  6 PagesLITERARY ANALYSIS One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey during a time in our society when pressures of our modern world seemed at their greatest. Many people were, at this time, deemed by society’s standards to be insane and institutionalized. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a ward of a mental institution. The major conflict in the novel is that of power. Power is a recurring and overwhelming theme throughout the novel. Kesey shows the power of womenRead MoreAnalysis Of Chief Bromden s The Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest 952 Words   |  4 Pagesthe end of the Novel, the resolution was Chief Bromden had escaped from the mental hospital. It affected the mental hospital because many patients were happy he escaped from Nurse Ratched authority. Character Analysis: Chief Bromden - The narrator/patient of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief Bromden is the son of the chief of the Columbia Indians and a white woman. Also, He suffers from paranoia and hallucinations, and received several electroshock treatments for ten years. In the novel, ChiefRead MoreSanity Like One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest1905 Words   |  8 Pages1960’s to the late 1970’s, the concept and interest of mental illness has been studied and discussed in countless different mediums ranging from films that tackled issues of sanity like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to novels that dealt with much darker issues such as schizophrenia in Flora Schreiber’s Sybil. One of the most controversial and talked about productions of the 20th century is Peter Shaffer’s 1974 Tony winning play, Equus, which recounts Dr. Martin Dysart’s encounter and treatment of